Chapter One: I Didn't Ask for a Wake-Up Call

Agent Noclaf.

Agent Noclaf stirred slightly, not willing to come up from the depths of hard-earned slumber.

Agent Noclaf.

A vague wave of dismissal and a mumbled "G'way…" responded to the telepathic message. The summoner was not pleased.

AGENT NOCLAF!!

Agent Daria Noclaf sat bolt upright in bed, muttering angry curses under her breath.

What? she demanded silently. Chaos and Fortune, I just got to sleep!

The Council wishes to speak with you immediately, Agent Noclaf. Report as soon as you are decent. With the message delivered, the mind-voice of Torap Cimic vanished from her awareness.

Still muttering angrily about her superiors, the young Tau'ka field agent climbed out of bed to get dressed. It was typical, really, the Council wanting her to drop everything and come running at unholy hours of the night. However, she couldn't think of anything off the top of her head that required her immediate attention so soon- hadn't she just averted the last major disaster?

With my luck, she thought grimly, some other System Lord just got wind of where the base is or something. Figures. I hate Mondays.

With a sigh, Daria flicked her finger at the light control. The illumination panels turned on at the telekinetic pressure on the control panel, slowly raising the light level in her room. Like nearly all of her race, she had decent night vision, but the living quarters in the underground Verris base had no windows. She dressed in her basic work clothes- loose, sage-green pants, a cream-colored shirt with short sleeves under a mahogany leather vest, and knee-high boots and arm braces of the same color leather. Glancing in the mirror, she snatched up a brush and began attacking her mop of auburn hair in preparation for tying it back off of her face.

The face that looked out in the mirror was one that, at first and possibly second glances, would be mistaken for that of a human's. That is, until one noticed the cheekbones (high and wide), forehead (rather broad), and large, wide-set eyes that had a tiny upward tilt at the corners. The color of those eyes- translucent grey-green with iridescent flecks of blue, violet, and gold- also marked Daria as being more than a little odd. She was a Tau'ka, one of a race of genetically engineered humans created a long time ago by a Goa'uld System Lord named Hecate.

Daria tied back her hair, dropped the brush on the dresser, and stalked out of her room, wandering the hallways until she reached the Council Wing. Outside the door to this wing was a work station, where another Tau'ka sat, one she recognized as Tarop Cimic, the Council's message relater. He looked up at her, blinked pearly gray eyes, then triggered the door sensor and waved her in. She nodded curtly to the secretary and stepped inside.

In contrast to what Tarop's order had seemed to suggest, the full Council was not in session. In fact, only two of the nine members waited for Daria in the Conference Chamber. They were her direct superiors- Commander Halcon of the Military Branch and Master Agent Felis of Intelligence. Whatever this summons was for, it was clearly only within the fields of these two.

Commander Halcon nodded gravely as Daria saluted. "Have a seat, Noclaf," he said. His eyes, which were a glittering shade of topaz, looked a little haggard.

Daria complied, looking from one to the other. "You had Tarop give me a wake-up call?" she said.

Master Agent Felis nodded. "We have another mission for you, Noclaf." She pushed a small button on the datapad in front of her. Instantly, a three-dimensional image sprang into life above a holographic projection unit set into the center of the table. It showed two men- tall, dark-haired, with piercing peridot eyes. Their nearly identical appearances showed them to be brothers at least, most likely twins.

Daria inhaled sharply. "Black Hawk," she said.

The head of the Tau'ka's Intelligence operations nodded again. "One of our deep-cover agents spotted them on their planet of surveillance. It seems that they are planning something big."

"Where?"

"The Tau'ri homeworld," Halcon answered. The hologram changed to show the image of a blue and green planet, liberally streaked with white clouds and with a single moon in its orbit. "The one called Earth in the old histories."

"What do they want…" Daria began. "Oh, the usual."

The commander of the Tau'ka military nodded gravely. "Chaos, panic, and eventual extermination of human life there. Normally, we wouldn't get involved with their affairs, however…"

"The prophecies." Daria finished for him. All the Tau'ka knew about them- many of their Precognitives had received numbers of detailed and very powerful visions concerning the humans of Earth. The visions showed some of Earth's children being key players in the battle of against the Goa'uld some hundred years or so in the future. Each Precognitive had warned that without Tau'ri help, victory was not only unlikely, but nearly impossible. To that end, the Council had several operatives on Earth, all serving under deep cover to help head off anything that might prevent the humans from reaching their full potential in the century they all had left.

Enter the Black Hawks. They were the leaders of a splinter faction of the Tau'ka who believed they were superior to just about anything else short of the Ancients. Fortunately, their numbers were small, but they were violently militant and spent a great deal of time contemplating how to wipe out the 'lesser species', i.e., humans. They were led by a pair called K'Wah and Koor, twin brothers descended from a line of purebloods dating all the way back to the original Tau'ka created by the System Lord Hecate. Only one individual among the Tau'ka had any reliable track record of thwarting them.

"So you want me to hike over to Earth and stop them." Daria said. It wasn't a question, but her superiors nodded anyway. "What are they up to this time?"

"They are attempting to stir up a world war," Felis said. "My agents have reported that the Hawks have joined forces with a criminal mastermind of some note, one…" She glanced at her data screen. "Professor James Moriarty. We have indications that his operation is based in and around London. You may wish to start there." The Head of Intelligence handed Daria a data disc. "This contains background and contact information so you may get in touch with the agents in the area. I will alert them to your arrival and have one of them arrange a pick-up. You need to leave as soon as possible."

Daria knew a dismissal when she heard it, so she accepted the disc, saluted, and left. She glanced at her chrono on her way out and grimaced.

I got in five hours ago and they're sending me out again already. I'm glad I took that shower. This is what I get for being Intel's Golden Girl. Gah…